BLISS Rating: ★★★★+
“You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.” – Barbara De Angelis
A surprisingly moving series! With very didactic moments as well even though it is perhaps categorized under the general category of Comedy. And yet a highly suspect series. One that glosses over a glaring ethical issue that is hard to ignore. Nonetheless, it delicately handles the situation innocently enough as if it is not even an issue or problem. It is the fact that a high school student falls in love with a teacher; and a teacher who falls in love with a high school student. Putting it that way, it sounds immoral, which, most assuredly, it is not. Genuinely a sincerely warm, and smartly done love story done without the slightest hint of impropriety.
Toki Kanade (Hachimura Rintaro) is a delinquent constantly getting into fights. Yet, there is something endearing about him. Perhaps it is his babyish, almost sad at times, face that makes him look innocent. He does draw you into him and in every sense of the word, he by every defining measure is not really driven to being bad but circumstances force him to defend himself. He is actually a very astute individual who is trying to apply himself. He is the classic example of the adage of ‘the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak’. Perhaps with a circle of friends or an adult guide, he could still turn around.
Who comes into the picture but the new physical education instructor by the name of Sahara Ichiro (Kizu Takumi). Not only is Sahara stunningly handsome, but he is also accepting and genuinely wants to help Toki improve and succeed. Their backstory is quite moving, and it seems, whether it is fate or destiny, they were meant to be together.
While it should have been scandalous that a love story developed between Sahara and Toki, it seemed inevitable to be so impending. What was refreshing about this story is that there is no morality or anxiety as to the ‘rightness’ or ‘wrongness’ of this message. It is just meant to be and we as observers are along for the ride. We are here to watch Toki grow and also see Sahara let go of the past love demons of rejection.
Of course, there are the usual twists and turns to make the story interesting. One of those twists, at first, seemed so artificial and contrived, that I was ready to give up on the series. It was when Sahara’s old flame came back to the high school as the swim instructor. Nekoto Minato (Hori Kaito), who soundly rejected Sahara in high school, comes back into the picture to perhaps muddy the waters of feelings.
Yet, Toki’s response to finding out who he is and how he deals with it was cinematic genius and simply brilliant. My response to that scene was “Wow!” It is one of the most magical moments in any BL I have ever seen. It showed a level of maturity, risk, and trust in a yet undeveloped/undefined relationship. That scene is worthy of being shown over and over again for its impact and solid performances. Let me repeat my response, “Wow!”
Who really S.T.O.L.E. this series? This is a solidly acted series. While the two main actors have strong performances, the series tended to be a bit formulaic. The need to have conversations with oneself drives me to distractions and the need to act infantile by Toki to get his point across diminished his performance. However, when he was serious, he literally stole each scene. The Japanese tend to use voiceovers and the overly dramatic movements to imaginary scenes to those voiceovers which I find detestable. I know they use it for comedic effects. That gets so overused and diminishes the story and action. However, who won my heart over was Hori Kaito as Nekoto. He, needing to make a supreme sacrifice, to let Sahara go rather than tell him how he really felt about him in high school, wore the pain of that decision in his face from the moment he sees Sahara again. And when he confesses how much he really likes him, he knows it is too little too late. The acting here is so expressive, I could tell not only on his face how painful it was, but his entire body told us that as well. It looked real, so real. And the soliloquy he had with his friend about his rejection by Sahara and the jealousy he felt was breathtaking. It is one of the most moving and painful scenes of rejection I have ever seen. You could feel the life drain from his body and the tears rolling down his eyes were real and genuine. His voice cracked and regret overwhelmed him. It is a remarkable scene and one so powerful that I will remember it for a long time. Kudos to Hori Kaito for a most memorable and powerful performance of a broken hearted and defeated man. It is indeed a standout moment.
There is also a side story involving others here about the typical theme in almost all BLs, irrespective of country. It is the lack of communication which Toki recognizes immediately and simply does not understand why being forthright, honest, and real about your feelings is not an option. There are some frank and candid moments with Toki with him then taking a rather poignant yet unorthodox way for Toki to handle that whole situation.
While this series has some astonishing moving and thoughtful moments, love was not one of them. I did not believe for a second that Sahara and Toki even ‘liked’ each other let alone ‘loved’ each other. There is no real connection here. It always felt at a distance. Sure, the story is cute and highly moralistic. There is and will be no exchange of anything beyond a few words until Toki graduates. That is really not of issue to me.
Believability is. And I just did not believe them as pre-lovers. Their kissing scene at the end was so cringeworthy that I actually winced. Both looked like they hated that their lips had to touch. I do not care what culture you are from or what or how repressed societal norms are, if you loved or even ‘liked’ each other and have waited to kiss for a long, long time, there would have been some kind of a spark, glow, tingle, smile, pleasure that is obvious. It would not have been two lips touching each other as if forced too with each looking like that had eating raw onions and garlic just before kissing. And forced to do so. Then please do not. Quit being prudish about something that is as natural as the rising sun.
Billed as a comedy, it does have its funny moments. The Romeo and Juliet scene, while corny, nonetheless, was funny. And that kissing scene was adorably cute and funny because it was ‘play acting’ and accidental and therefore more real in nature, ironically. Overall, there is no way one could possibly have thought of Toki as a real high school student. He was way too astute, mature, pragmatic, and reflective to be a typical teenager. To be sure, he had levels of immature like any teenager, but even then, it was contextual and not who he really was. I never could buy into the notion he was a teenager.
This is not a long series and again, it tends to overuse flashbacks and repeated scenes. Occasionally, to get to a major point, it makes sense to use, but otherwise, it becomes a red flag that the story has gotten flat, or the writers do not know what to do with the story. Either way, it is wasted time.
But I liked this series a lot. It was funny, poignant, scrupulous, and highly principled. Although formulaic at times, it still is entertaining and fun to watch.
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